W. Whiteland OKs 4-year police contract

By
Kendal Gapinski, Daily Local News

Friday, June 28, 2013

WEST WHITELAND — Supervisors Wednesday voted to approve a four-year contract with the union that represents police officers in the township.

“The board is very pleased to have amicably negotiated the new four year agreement so far in advance of the expiration of the current agreement,” supervisors’ Chairman Keith Choper said. “The board and the (West Whiteland Police Officers’ Association) believe that the terms are fair, and represent the best interests of both the township and the POA.”

The contract will go into effect Jan. 1, 2014 and last until Dec. 31, 2017. The new agreement covers the township’s 24 officers, said Christopher Sherman, president of the Police Officers’ Association.

Changes to the contract include a base wage increase of 2.50 percent in 2014, with that percentage increasing to 2.75 percent a year from 2015 to 2017, said Choper.

The contract includes the adoption of Pennsylvania’s killed-in-service survivor benefit. According to Sherman, since the commonwealth provides death benefits for the survivors of law enforcement personnel killed in the line of duty, the police department updated the contract to reflect that those benefits will now be provided by the state instead of the township.

Other changes include the use of a new laundry service provider to care for officers’ uniforms, a clarification of retired officers’ Medicare supplemental plan benefit and the elimination of an education benefit for officers hired after Jan. 1, 2013.

Both township officials and the union commended the attitudes of both sides participating in negotiations. Sherman said talks surrounding the agreement were “very peaceful” and that changes to the contract were ones that did not have much opposition from either side.

“Everyone was very open-minded and saw each other’s point of view,” said Sherman. “For a number of years it hasn’t always been that way, and this has just been a pleasure to deal with these negotiations.”

Sherman said that both the Police Officers’ Association and township worked together during the three-month negotiation process to make it as “pleasant” as possible. Since both sides were in agreement over most aspects of the contract, the process was simplified because many aspects from the old contract were adopted into the new one, said Sherman, so the need to dissect every part of the contract to study costs was unnecessary, unlike in past years.

“The contract is really beneficial because there’s usually a disagreement on who should get a benefit, or if something should be changed, or if it can be afforded, but both sides this time were very open minded to look at each other’s perspective when looking at the benefits, which is the true idea of negotiation,” Sherman said. “The Police Officers’ Association appreciates the way the board handled these negotiations, and we look forward to it happening again in the future.”

The agreeability of the negotiations was a welcomed process after other townships and boroughs in Chester County experienced discord over police contracts in recent years. Most notably, the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department fought with Westtown and East Goshen townships over a contract that township officials said was unsustainable financially, with the argument going as far as the townships’ supervisor boards announcing their intention to disband the police force. A contract was eventually agreed upon in early October.